[page] 5

Like Mr Buckle, whose death you noticed last week, Mr Darwin has devoted himself to a great work which it is scarcely probable, in the ordinary course of things, that he will ever live to complete: but he has prudently published an abstract of it in the meantime. The 'Fertilization of Orchids by Insects' may be regarded as a development of one of the chapters of the 'Origin of Species,' in which the philosophic author traces the agency of cats in the production of honey. The cats promote the growth of red clover by preying on the mice, who would otherwise destroy, and the clover affords gallen to certain species of the wild bee. In his new volume Mr Darwin extends this interesting branch of scientific research.